The ZTE Blade has 2 underlying partition layouts (including for partitions other than system data cache, OEM, etc). One is the original Gen1 layout, and the other is the Gen2/Gen3 layout. The extra 35MB is there because the Gen2 layout takes up about 15MB more space with these hidden partitions, and also because the stock layout has a OEM partition that takes up space for no good reason.
I recommend you flash one of the Gen2 TPTs from here: http://www.modaco.com/topic/347601-zte-blade-tpts/. This is safer and faster than flashing via windows, and 15MB isn't much.
If you do decide to flash via windows, follow the guide here: http://www.modaco.com/topic/339048-guide-flashing-firmware-to-bladelibra-via-windows/. Make sure you follow the instructions properly. You can usually recover channel1.nvm (which is a backup of your imei) as long as the flasher is running, but making a backup yourself is definitely a good idea. You can get the extra 15MB like this but it is slower and much more likely to give you problems.

Hello all,
Apologies if these questions have been asked and answered already; I've been trying to use the search function but it seems to consistently return no results. I'm running the 19/01 build with the gapps on the first page. In google maps navigation, the default voice for my locale is the smooth and classy male English voice from Google TTS. It works out of the box, but maps tells me I don't have any TTS engine installed on first run of navigation, and sure enough Google TTS is not listed in Text to Speech settings in language and input settings (even though it works). Is there some issue with the gapps package? I can install Pico TTS from the market as maps suggests, but then I am unable to use the Google TTS voice which I like better, despite it apparently being installed. Google now sais there is a new version available but its incompatible with my device. Is this because the new version is incompatible with ARMv6, and is there a way to get it? Voice recognition doesn't work: it sais "Initialising" for a while and then exits without hearing anything. Is this a known/fixable issue? The AOSP google keyboard's gesture typing doesn't work. I can type letters individually just fine, but if I swipe through a word, nothing is written. Known/fixable?

I remember how buggy ICS was on the Blade after it was released in AOSP - CyanogenMod decided that it wasn't worth supporting, hardware video acceleration didn't work and didn't look like working, lots of the old developers as well as ZTE started moving on to newer phones, and it generally seemed like an uphill battle. I thought gingerbread would be the limit for the Blade, but it looks like been proven wrong. I just flashed this onto my old Blade which I gave to my dad and it seems to be running really well, with no important features missing.
So congratulations to KonstaT and all others who have been involved in getting ICS and JB to work so well - its brought new life to my Blade again, and I really appreciate the effort that's gone into it.
As good as my Galaxy Nexus is, It's sometimes disappointing how easy it is to hack, and I miss all the fun you guys have.

It should be possible to recover from this reasonably easily. Just in case there has been any misunderstanding, Try BOTH the Gen2 and Gen1 TPT's se[erately from my unbricking guide (it doesn't hurt to try the wrong one): http://android.modaco.com/topic/343587-guide-de-bricking-a-zte-blade/. If either of them works, you're back in business. You need to remove the battery and then hold down menu and volume up as you turn on the phone. If you need to buy a SD to micro SD adapter to access the card then do it, its cheap. Failing that, There's no point not trying method 5 for fear if you can't otherwise fix it. A TPT should work though - post details of any errors you get. In the case of USB connectons problems, uninstall, reboot, and reinstall the zte blade drivers in case windows is the problem.

This is the first forum I've been meaningfully involved in, and I've learned a great deal from it and had alot of fun hacking my blade with the help of the whole community here. Thankyou to everyone who helped me get the most out of my blade.
I've got myself a galaxy s2 (which I've already soft bricked and recovered) to replace my old and beaten up blade, so I probably won't be spending much more time hacking the blade, although I might still pop back occasionally.
Farewell guys!

you've flashed some of the provided firmware, and then afterwards it doesn't go into ftm mode?
try removing the battery and then turning the phone on with volume down held. If that doesn't work, try flashing diffferent firmware. Otherwise I'm afraid I can't help you.

if youre using windows, its probably easier to install linux first. then download the android source code (CM is fine too), and look for mkbootimg (I thinkthats waht its called, and there are a few other tools)